Indeed, Mars is a bit of an annoying edge case here. Still the atmosphere really helps in other regards, such as for orbit circulation for probes via aerobrakin

Indeed, Mars is a bit of an annoying edge case here. Still the atmosphere really helps in other regards, such as for orbit circulation for probes via aerobraking. And can be used for aerocapture in the future as well. Given the Mars gravity I still wonder if no atmosphere would still make it worse vs the thin that it has.